Asleep at the switch

Sunday

Dec 9, 2012 at 6:00 AM

Robert Nemeth

Announcing a change in his chief of staff the other day, Gov. Deval L. Patrick patted himself on the back, saying: “We just keep getting better and better.” That remark seems to indicate that in addition to losing interest, as some observers have suggested, he has lost touch with reality. In view of several patronage scandals, mismanagement, rising unemployment and a deepening financial crisis, self-congratulation is hardly in order.

Mr. Patrick is no stranger to controversy. He began his first term with the Cadillac and the office redecoration snafu, glitches attributed to political immaturity. Later he went AWOL, pursuing a lucrative book deal while urgent state issues waited on the back burner. However, recent stumbles were more troublesome. Between playing surrogate to President Obama on the campaign trail, making rousing speeches at national events, attending a private dinner at the White House, and bypassing the Legislature to give illegal immigrants a tuition discount, our governor seems to have fallen asleep at the switch.

He ignored the virtual disintegration of the state Department of Public Health, led by one of his protégés, Dr. JudyAnn Bigby. A rogue chemist at the William A. Hinton State Laboratory was allowed to tamper with thousands of court-mandated drug tests that has resulted in the release of dozens of convicts serving time for drug-related crimes and is likely to cost hundreds of millions of dollars in future litigation.

The question is inescapable: If those tests could have such an overwhelming impact on the judicial system, how was it possible that a lone lab worker, Annie Dookhan, could inflict such massive damage for an extended period of time? What was her motive? What happened to supervision, oversight, chain of custody and command? Dr. Bigby could not provide satisfactory answers when questioned by legislators. Nor could she explain what went wrong at a Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical compounding company apparently responsible for the outbreak of fungal meningitis that caused 36 deaths and several hundred cases of serious illness.

There have been calls for Dr. Bigby’s resignation, and her blunders at the helm certainly warrant her departure. But the ultimate responsibility lies with Gov. Patrick, who selected her for an important cabinet position and then tolerated scandalous mismanagement at the DPH.

The choice of Sheila Burgess as the state’s highway safety director was another glaring mistake. While she has no expertise in the field, she does have political connections. She also has a terrible driving record that includes several accidents, four speeding violations and a citation for failing to wear a safety belt.

Ms. Burgess once worked for Jim McGovern as a fundraiser, and the congressman admits he had recommended that the governor hire her for a state job.

As the Burgess fiasco was unfolding, it was learned that records relating to her background check and her hiring process have disappeared. Gov. Patrick grudgingly dismissed Ms. Burgess, while praising her at the same time. “Somebody who apparently performed very well, but has a record that is embarrassing to the position, got the position,” he said during a press conference. “It’s a story about embarrassment, not about poor performance.”

These scandals have unfolded against the larger backdrop of a federal investigation into wholesale patronage abuses at the Probation Department and persistent questions about the involvement of Patrick administration members with former Chelsea Housing Authority officials suspected of corruption. All of that mess accumulated under Gov. Patrick’s watch, and none of it indicates that his administration keeps “getting better and better.”

The next scandal may be just around the corner with the arrival of the newly appointed director of the MBTA, Beverly Scott. Her selection was conducted under most unusual circumstances, to say the least. While she was running the mass transit system in Atlanta, Ms. Scott and her leadership team were required to undergo lengthy counseling with a business psychology consulting firm to improve their management skills.

As she was being interviewed for her new job in Boston, the results of a comprehensive management audit of her performance was released, revealing alarming shortcomings. The audit by the national firm KPMG found that the mass transit system in Atlanta had an annual operation deficit of nearly $33 million, a shortfall that will deplete its reserves by 2018. “The current economic model is unsustainable,” the report concluded. “Successful strategies to reduce costs in healthcare, retirement, absentee and workers compensation areas could save up to $50 million a year.”

Neither the psychiatric consultation nor the damaging audit was known to Massachusetts authorities who hired her. She’ll earn $220,000 a year, far less than the $370,000 she collected in Georgia.

Ms. Scott, who is scheduled to take over the MBTA job next week, will be the first woman, as well as the first African-American, to head the transit system with 6,500 employees and an annual budget of $1.8 billion. Earlier this year, State Transportation Secretary Richard Davey said he was looking for a woman to fill the position. He acknowledged the directive to hire Ms. Scott came from the governor’s office.

Let’s hope Ms. Scott will live up to her billing as a nationally known and respected transit leader. If not, Gov. Patrick will end up with more egg on his face.